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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22466359">best friend</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lu_marii/pseuds/lu_marii'>lu_marii</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Doctor Who (2005)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Hurt/Comfort, can be read as platonic or romantic!, i tried to make it platonic but my shipper self came through, spoilers for the new episode</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 18:53:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>610</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22466359</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lu_marii/pseuds/lu_marii</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor’s head is on Jack’s shoulder. His arms are around her. She’s crying. She is crumbling in his arms, because he sat down next to her and asked what was wrong.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Thirteenth Doctor &amp; Jack Harkness, Thirteenth Doctor/Jack Harkness</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>304</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>best friend</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>return of the judoon really fucked me up i lvoe jack harkness more than anything</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The Doctor’s head is on Jack’s shoulder. His arms are around her. She’s crying. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jack hasn’t known this incarnation of the Doctor for very long, but he knows the Doctor better than anyone eles. Since he stepped back onto the TARDIS (for the first time in years, with three new companions and a new Doctor), he’s known something is wrong. Maybe it’s the way she constantly asks the others if they’re sure they don’t want to go home, maybe it’s that he’s just found her sitting in the TARDIS door and staring off into space when everyone else was asleep. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And now she is crumbling in his arms, because he sat down next to her and asked what was wrong. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Without any more questions, Jack puts a hand on her waist and another in her hair and holds on tight. When someone in the universe cries for help, the Doctor goes to them, tries to heal them. Jack isn’t sure of the last time someone has done that for her. With a sick sort of sadness, he realizes it may have been the last time he was on the TARDIS. For him, two centuries. For her…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Who knows. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They stay like that for a long few minutes, him stroking her hair, her getting his jacket shoulder wet. Then finally, she says, “Gallifrey is gone.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jack’s hand stills. He’d thought that had always been the case - but maybe not. “What do you mean, honey?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s burned to the ground.” </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>He can’t see her face but he can imagine her expression. That look the Doctor so often holds that isn’t really her present; Her eyes somewhere far away, her mind even farther. Eyebrows knitted together, top lip between her teeth. No matter the regeneration, the Doctor’s face moves the same way. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>gone,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>she whispers, “It’s burned to the ground. Missy, She - </span>
  <em>
    <span>He-” </span>
  </em>
  <span>She chokes on her words and he shushes her, threading his fingers through her hair. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Take your time,” he says. He stares off into the stars as he waits for her to continue; How many of the people living in this universe she’s saved so many times know her? How many know that this amazing, strong, brilliant person is on the verge of falling apart any minute? </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The Master,” she says and his blood turns cold, the world falls away and all he recognizes is anger and fear and his best friend in his arms, “He destroyed Gallifrey. He killed them all.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>His best friend in his arms when she was he, with sticky-uppy hair and converse, telling him he’d </span>
  <em>
    <span>killed them all. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His best friend now, telling him </span>
  <em>
    <span>he killed them all. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Two different he’s. Jack doesn’t understand, but that’s how life is when your relationship with time is so fucked. Now isn’t the time to ask. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jack holds his best friend close. He hooks his chin on the top of her head and holds her to his chest and says, “I’m so sorry.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(The Doctor wonders when she can tell him about Missy. Missy, all big dresses and deranged smiles and hope, all the Master but not - all the friend the Doctor used to have and lost. The doctor wonders when she can tell her best friend about her best friend, and she thinks maybe never. Never without angering him. Betraying him.)</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>He holds her for another twenty minutes before the shaking and crying fades out. He chuckles and scoops her up easily with her tiny form. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jack holds his best friend in his arms. He thinks of the master, and his hold turns almost protective. “Let’s go to bed,” he murmurs, “You’ve had a long week.” </span>
</p>
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